Renewed Return
by Alice42D
Summary: Krillin meets an old friend


pre class="a-b-r-La a-b-ja-Eb-Vb" style="user-select: text; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"Krillin stared upwards at the grand temple that he had once called home.

It had stopped being so when he was eleven, when he had had enough of the bullying that older monks had inflicted upon him. Krillin absentmindedly reached up to touch the spots on his forehead that had once marked his first vocation.

A cold hand steadied him, and he glanced up to see the concerned face of his beautiful wife. He smiled up at her, and, reassured, she moved her hand off his shoulder.

Krillin took a deep breath, and placed on foot in front of the other as he marched up the staggering set of stairs that seemed to move ever upward into the heavens. Maron, his dear daughter, skipped up those same steps with what seemed like the infinite energy of her cyborg mother.

As the odd family neared the entrance, Krillin stared feeling anxious. /Was this really the right thing to do after close to 20 years of absence?/  
Eighteen turned to her husband, halting their eager daughter.  
"Do you really want to do this?"  
Krillin furrowed his brow, swallowed hard, and put on a brave face. He had put this off for long enough.  
"I have to do this."  
The fighter was going to face an enemy greater than that of those he had faced before: his old family.

"Umm, excuse me? Is the monk Ches still around?"  
The bald monk grinned at Krillin's question, and walked the shorter man and his family to a large garden near the back of the midsize temple.  
"If you would like to speak to him, he's usually somewhere in there."

Rollin thanked the man, and located the Ki of his old master, back when he was a youngster at the temple. While the man had never truly intervened when Krillin was being bullied, the fighter was still thankful for the lessons the monk taught about surviving in the wild, and just for raising him after his original parents had stopped him off at the temple's doorstep.

Krillin spotted the man in question, who's once-young and glowing visage was now wrinkled and tired. He took notice of the man running toward him.

Krillin couldn't help the tears forming at the corners of his eyes when he saw the old man.

Ches recognized his old student- both the height and the tears helped identify the once self-absorbed young man.

"Krillin?"

Krillin stopped short and bowed politely. "I'm so sor-I should've come earlier- I have so much to tell you!"

"We- I've missed you, you know- the temple would have benefited a clever one like you, if only you've had stayed. But enough of that!"  
The old monk mentioned his ex-pupil closer, "What have you come to tell me?"

Rollin motioned toward the approaching blondes, inviting them in on the conversation.  
"This is my wife, Lapis, and my daughter, Maron."

The man was stunned- his jaw dropped, his eyes bulged- and he quickly tried to go back to his earlier nonchalance to no avail.  
"Sorry, I just- I never expected you to become a family man. When and how did you two meet? Pardon my intrusion, I-"

Krillin laughed, almost snorting out the words, "No,no- I understand the surprise- no-one here actually thought my learning martial arts would get me anywhere"  
He grinned, smirking as the memories came back, "Until I became a finalist in the 'Strongest under the Heavens' tournament, and with the mark of the turtle school on my uniform"

At this, Eighteen raised an eyebrow. "That perv is actually a big deal? I was wondering why you were at his house.."

The monk was brought back to his earlier question by Eighteen's comment.  
"Yes, but... how did you two meet?"

Krillin turned to his wife, who shrugged. He turned back to Ches, and rather sheepishly said "She beat up my allies, and tried to kill my best friend- actually came pretty close, too"

The monk almost fell from shock, clutching his chest- and the little girl laughed at his reaction.

Krillin and Eighteen looked fondly at their child, and the monk was struck by the look on Krillin's face- he had never seen such a soft look on his pupil's face while the fighter was at the temple, and Ches had decided that leaving the temple had changed Krillin for the better/pre 


End file.
